Grendel's Point Of View In Beowulf

In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, it tells the story of the epic poem of Beowulf, but from the “monster’s” point of view. This story gives a more sympathetic and different portrayal of the creature known as Grendel. Grendel is speaking for himself and using empathy for his pain. It gives the reader the question of who the real evil in the world is; whether it is Monster or Men. In the beginning of the novel, Grendel is a misunderstood creature. He sees himself as similar to humans, but is immediately marked as an exile. Throughout the course of the book, it can be seen that Grendel is changing; slowly descending into a more savage like manor, embracing his fate as a monster. In the beginning, Grendel’s point of view is that he is a pathetic …show more content…
This is due to the way Men view Grendel. They see him as a monster. When Grendel first interacts with Men he says “They all began shouting at each other. One of the horses neighed and reared up, and for some crazy reason they took it for a sign. The king snatched an ax from the man beside him and, without warning, he hurled it at me” (Gardner, 27). These men saw Grendel and feared him. Instead of attempting to understand him, they saw him as a beast and attacked him. This takes place when Grendel is at his weakest, when he is stuck in the tree roots and is defenseless. While Grendel meant no harm, Men’s first reaction was to fear it and attack it; they did not give Grendel a chance. From that moment on, his fate was made by the Men because they cast him out immediately. Later, Grendel visits Heorot, not trying to be a threat, but Grendel describes the scene “The Harper broke off, the people screamed…Drunken men rushed me with battle axes…They hacked at me, yipping at me like dogs…And I understood, as shocked as I’d been the first time, that they could kill me—They would if I gave them the chance” (Gardner, 51-52). In this scene Grendel enters Heorot and is seen by men who immediately freak out (again) and rush to attack him and they intend on killing him. But they do not give him chance to be understood, they only destroy. He is once again misunderstood by people who are not far from …show more content…
Grendel is pushed towards the Dragon and in this meeting with the greater and more powerful creature, and the dragon says “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it” (Gardner, 74). The human’s treatment is what led him to the Dragon. By this time, the darkness inside him has started to grow and the dragon is the final thing that sets Grendel on his path of evil. He tells Grendel to embrace his evil, his strength, his power, and to use it; to take these men, and show the real side of the monsters that they’ve created. It is at this point that Grendel ceases to run from his fate, and chooses to accept it. He then heads to Heorot, this time intending to leave wreckage in his path. Grendel says “I had become something, as if born again. I had hung between possibilities before, between the cold truths I knew, and the heart-sucking conjuring tricks of the Shaper; now that was passed: I was Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings!” (Gardner, 80). Grendel is no longer affected by the Shaper’s fabrications of realities; he is reborn into what society has created him to be. He eventually was pushed by both the Men and the Dragon to embrace his monstrous character, and to destroy the very civilization that created him. He chose the path into savagery. Grendel seeks out someone who understands him and will talk to him, the